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A lot of attention has been placed on names like Chris James and Bradrick Shaw in the Wisconsin Badgers backfield, and rightfully so. Both had amazing springs, but neither have something that incoming freshman running back Jonathan Taylor has — high school track state championships.

While Shaw and James may bring more of the North-South style of running, Taylor seems to have the speed that could be a huge game changer for the Badgers backfield this season. The question may be if the Badgers want to use his skill set this season or allow him to grow a bit.

One look at UW’s backfield and there is a real lack of game-breaking speed in the backfield right now. It certainly will be hard to keep that kind of raw speed of the field for long. Taylor comes to the Badgers as the No. 24 ranked running back in the 2017 class according to the 247Sports composite rankings and was the No. 8 player in the state of New Jersey.

Of course, there is also Taiwan Deal to factor in. When healthy, Deal has given the Badgers a lot to like in the backfield.

After a few years of rocky play and little true depth, it appears the Badgers finally are back to a loaded backfield.

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Andy Coppens is the Founder and Publisher of Talking10. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and has been covering college sports in some capacity since 2008. You can follow him on Twitter @AndyOnFootball